Of all the original cast members of Lost, Terry O'Quinn remains my favorite.

Think about what the show asks of him. He's playing a character who has no emotional ties to the other survivors, yet can still spark strong reactions from them. He's extremely intelligent, yet easily led, whether it's by Ben, Jacob, Alpert, or his father.

And that's putting aside the physicality of the role, a character who's been -- so far -- shot twice, paralyzed, had his leg broken, and survived a car accident. He's something of Christ figure, enduring all this physical punishment, and going through a range of Garden of Gethsemene moments along the way.

So any episode that was all Locke, all the time was bound to be pretty awesome, and this one -- titled "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" -- delivered, even if the death part wound up confusing me a bit.

More on all that after the "read more" link, which means that if you haven't seen the episode yet, this is a good time to stop reading.

I guess my confusion comes down to understanding Ben's motivations. Why kill Locke and then insist on his body returning to the island. What was it that prompted him to kill him? His mention of Mrs. Hawking? Jin's ring? I suppose we'll find out, but my frustration here plays into something larger: this show is now about a war between two powerful men -- and war is apparently the right word, according to Widmore-- both of whom claim to be on the side of the angels.

Mind you, this is a good frustration. If I wanted a show that drew its characters in black and white, you wouldn't be reading this now. We know now that Ben tricked Widmore into leaving the island years ago. But once again: how do we know we can trust Widmore? Arrgh.

Getting back to Locke: he went through a lot this hour, huh? Shot at, traveling through time and space, learning Helen had died, trying to convince the Oceanic 6 to come back, attempting suicide and getting killed and rising from the dead. By the time he returns to the island, he seems transformed and serene (yet probably still a bit irked at Ben, and I apologize for using a Lindsey Lohan movie for the title of this post).

I guess we'll find out more next week what it means now that we know the island can raise the dead.

Other thoughts and questions:

Wow, Walt got tall.

What part of the island did the plane land on? And did it actually land, as oppose to crashing? It seems like it's in good shape.

Anyone else think Walt's dream -- in which Locke, wearing a suit, is menaced by a bunch of other people -- will come up again?

Once again, ABC didn't provide a photo for the episode in time, so I used a portrait shot of its central character.

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Tom:

When Locke mentioned that he wasn't going to go see Jin, that's when Ben knew he had to kill him. The only way Sun would come back is if she thought her husband alive. If Locke had given her the ring, instead of Ben, the whole thing might not have worked.

I believe that Ben had no idea that Eloise was Faraday's mom. We know that Faraday was there the day the Orchid was being built, and I'm wondering if somewhere around that time was when he first met Charlotte, and told her to never come back?

Ben has killed Locke twice now. Once in the pit after leaving jacob/Christian, and then again in LA.

Now my best guess on things include the "newbies" and their leader, the aptly named "Caesar."
Caesar doesn't know who Ben is, so that would rule out him working for Widmore, who would have put people on the plane to follow the "6" don't you think?
He sent Desmond to Eloise, so he's probably watching.

I have no doubt that the loose end that Ben tied up was killing Penny for revenge, even though Alexandra was not his daughter.
This will force Desmond to leave his son Charlie in the care of Widmore, and return to the Island in search of vengeance against Ben.
Look for Desmond to make a surprise visit to Eloise before the season finale looking for a way back, at the direction of Widmore.

Those are my guesses for now.

I'll touch on the "Vanishing" from the plane book of revelation style some other time. I have this crazy idea that Sun and Frank Lapidus are the two who stole off with the other boat. I also surmise that the reason Sun may not have vanished is because she didn't come back with her child. Until I'm proven wrong, that's my guess.

I couldn't agree more about the "who do you trust" issue with Ben and Widmore. But seeing Ben kill Locke "seemed" to make Ben the bad guy (but Darlton have fooled us before.)

It seemed as if he was probing - waiting for John to spill the goods. I assume (perhaps a mistake) that he would have "helped" John along on his plan until John revealed that important piece of info (Hawking) to Ben. Then John would have m-m-m-met with an accident.

Here's some moral ambiguity though: how reprehensible is it to kill a guy with the cord that he was about to end his own life with minutes earlier?

I don't think Ben has matured, emotionally, from the boy who killed his Dad a long time ago. He wants what he wants and doesnt care what he has to do to get it. With the island he got the keys to Dad's car and has been tearing around the neighborhood on a joy ride. Except that, with the power of the island, Dad's car is an ICBM.

Hey, I was just happy to see Locke walking and talking again. I too love Locke. He's pathetic and heroic all at the same time. He's Fox Mulder. He wants to believe.

Chris -- I'm curious about Caesar too, and didn't even think about the significance of his name.

Holden -- Your thoughts about Ben as a petulant child is what makes me think I'd maybe side with Widmore in this fight. Widmore is certainly ruthless, but I don't think he's as motivated by base emotions (jealously chief among them) as Ben.

Posted By: Tom C. | Feb 26, 2009 11:49:16 AM

Hey Tom, When widmore's storm troopers launched their assault, Ben sent his "tribe" to the Temple for shelter.
So what wacky effect did all the Time skipping possibly have on them?

Jin now knows where the Temple is, and where Smokey lives.

So here's what we and a couple of my friends think:

That the plane (Flight 316) passed over the island not only as it was moving, but as it was time skipping, and that not only did those who vanished from the plane get taken to the island, but also ended up in the same time as Jin, Faraday, and the gang are stuck in, possibly the 70s?

Tom, in the bible, verse 3:16 is "Jesus Wept"
John Locke rises from the dead after arriving in the crash of flight 316. Neat coincidence, huh?

In this season's first episode, a record starts skipping, and Dr. time travel is feeding a baby.
Is the baby Charlotte? She'd be about the right age, in her 30s? And we see Faraday in that episode, at the construction of the orchid.

So does this mean he does see Charlotte as a child, and tell her to leave?

Thoughts to ponder!

Widmore is growing on me. Can't help but wonder if he and Eloise are connected, and Eloise is Penelope's mother as well as Faraday's?